On November 30, Lyft, Inc., the ride-share company based in San Francisco, completed its previously announced acquisition of S&C client Motivate International, Inc., the parent company of Citibike and the largest bikeshare operator in North America.
Upon closing Lyft plans to maintain existing bike-share programs in cities across North America, including New York, Chicago, Boston, Washington D.C. and San Francisco. In New York, Lyft will invest $100 million to double Citibike’s area of operations and add 40,000 bikes to its fleet, making Citibike one of the largest bike-share programs in the world.
The S&C team advising Motivate on the transaction was led by Robert Downes and Brian Hamilton, along with Benjamin Fleming, Polina Demina and Estefania Souza. Matthew Friestedt, along with Jeannette Bander and Sarah Remmer Long advised on executive compensation and benefits matters, with Kristen Klein providing additional coverage. Ronald Creamer and Jonathan Rhein advised on tax matters. Mehdi Ansari and Justin Orr advised on intellectual property matters. Joseph Matelis, Eric Queen and Clea McClellan advised on Hart-Scott-Rodino matters.